The Best Bathroom Mirror Ideas

Mirror, mirror on the wall, discover the best bathroom mirror styles for modern bathrooms, large or small.

By Ande Waggener

What are the best bathroom mirror ideas? They’re the ideas that include mirrors as bathroom design elements equally important to all the other features and fixtures in your bathroom space.

As bathroom fixtures go, mirrors aren’t generally at the top of the excitement list, but they are at the top of the “look at me” list. They are, after all, there to be looked at.

Knowing which mirrors work best in which kind of bathrooms is an essential part of choosing the perfect elements for a bathroom that not only looks beautiful but functions beautifully. Getting the mirror wrong can flush an entire bathroom design scheme down the toilet.

So let’s save your bathroom. Here are seven bathroom mirror ideas you can choose from to make sure the mirror you get is just right for your bathroom.

Storage Mirrors

Storage is often a problem in bathrooms, especially small bathrooms. Because of this, one of the best types of mirrors for small bathrooms (and all bathrooms in which storage is an issue) is the storage mirror. Obviously, you want to maximize your bathroom storage space. What better way to do that than by having one fixture do two jobs?

A storage mirror is what we used to call a medicine cabinet. It’s a shallow wall cabinet fronted by a mirror. Traditionally, these cabinets were small and ugly. But modern versions of the medicine cabinet are sleek and attractive. Storage mirrors can be made from a variety of materials, so you can choose a cabinet that either blends with or balances your bathroom décor.

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Frameless Mirrors

Frameless bathroom mirrors are a good idea in either of two types of bathrooms:

Modern minimalist bathrooms

When you want a bathroom feature like your tile or your sink to play a leading role in the space, frameless mirrors can be just the supporting cast you need. Low profile and unobtrusive, frameless mirrors won’t detract from other design elements.

Cramped bathrooms

When wall space is at a premium, a frameless mirror is your best choice. You can fit a more functional mirror on the wall if it doesn’t have a frame.

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Mirrors with Shelves

When you have a small bathroom vanity or one of the vanity-less bathroom sink types like a pedestal sink, you don’t have much room for bathroom accents. Without accents, your bathroom can look generic and uninviting. A mirror that’s paired with shelves gives you a place to add some function and/or flair to your bathroom with bathroom accents.

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Framed Bathroom Mirrors

Framed bathroom mirrors are vehicles for adding depth and texture to your bathroom design. Because mirror frames can be made of nearly any material and come in a wide variety of sizes and colors, you can get a lot of design impact from a framed mirror. A large framed mirror will work great over a big vanity. A pair of framed mirrors can showcase eye-catching dual sinks. But you don’t need a big framed mirror to get a great look. Any framed mirror can up-level even the plainest bathroom design.

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Circular Mirrors

Circular mirrors are delightfully versatile. Whether you want peaceful flow or bold contrast in your bathroom space, a circular mirror can fit the bill. In a bathroom filled with rounded elements like old-fashioned claw-foot tubs or basin sinks, a circular mirror will add to the soft look of the room. In a bathroom filled with sharper lines like those of slab vanities, tiled tubs, and shallow sinks, a circular mirror will provide balance that evens out the space.

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Arched Mirrors

Most bathroom mirrors are square, rectangular, or circular. Whereas all of these shapes can be made to fit any design style, arched mirrors are especially well suited to traditional or Old World bathroom styling. Combine an arched mirror with an ornate frame, and you can add a touch of elegance to any bathroom.

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Ceiling-Height Mirrors

Large bathrooms need large bathroom mirrors. These mirrors come in most of the styles already discussed, but one additional style particularly well-suited to a big bathroom is the counter-to-ceiling style mirror. This type of mirror is generally paired with a vanity, and it extends from the top of the vanity all the way to the ceiling.

Because it stretches to the ceiling, a ceiling-height mirror tends to fill the space and amplify other bathroom design features. This means a ceiling-height mirror can have a great wow factor. That wow factor comes with a downside, however. Not only is such a mirror a bit tricky to install (it’s so much easier to simply hang up a framed mirror), it also can be a challenge to clean. Even so, these drawbacks can be worth it for the reflective punch a ceiling-height mirror packs.

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Now that you have an array of bathroom mirror ideas in your bathroom décor design bag, you’ll be able to pick a mirror that blends flawlessly with your other bathroom fixtures.